Hot-handed junior Stewart Jolly and senior Smylie Kaufman led the LSU men’s golf team to a third-place finish with an even par 864 at the 25th-annual Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic over the weekend.
Kaufman went on a tear in the third round of the tournament on Sunday. He rocketed up the leaderboard from his starting position of 23rd overall to his fifth-place finish after shooting a 5-under-par to end his weekend at The Farm Golf Club in Rocky Face, Ga.
Jolly stayed in contention all weekend, cracking the top 10 in the opening round Friday by shooting even par. He pushed into the third-place spot Saturday with a 4-under-par second round and concluded his tournament with a 1-under-par to secure a third place finish.
Senior Andrew Presley, junior Curtis Thompson and freshman Zach Wright rounded out the five-man team that helped LSU start the season with a top-three finish.
Thompson tied for 23rd place with a 3-over-par, Presley ended tied for 37th at 7-over-par and Wright concluded at 10-over-par, tying for 48th place.
The Tigers started the tournament strong Friday, finishing tied for sixth. Along with Jolly and Kaufman’s hot starts, Thompson tied for 33rd place at 3-over-par, Presley added a 4-over-par to tie for 43rd place and Wright wrapped up the Tigers’ scoring with a 5-over-par to tie for 49th place on Friday afternoon.
Jolly and the Tigers heated up on Saturday moving into fifth place and in good contention for their final round on Sunday. Thompson improved his performance with an even-par 72 to move into a tie for 23rd place with Kaufman who shot 1-over-par on Saturday. 
Presley tallied on a 2-over to tie for 44th place and the freshman Wright shot 7-over-par to finish the day in the 70 spot.
Along with the hot clubs of Kaufman and Jolly, the other three Tigers took a step forward on Sunday to finish the championship in third place. 
Wright ended strong with a 1-under-par to leap 22 spots on the board. Thompson followed up with another even-par and Presley jumped up seven spots on the leaderboard after a 1-over-par.
The Tigers will head to Iowa next weekend to compete in the Golfweek Conference Challenge.